Another "End Sinister" theory...

This one is a bit far out there, and I know there are some flaws in it, but I think it accounts for a lot of the actions by the main "alien" in the episode...

First of all, this does not really concern the nature of the planet/s involved (I personally believe that the "alien planet" was not a second planet but was Earth, reached by traveling in a loop in hibernation in order to reach the time of the evolved humans after the Aldus B ray launched, who utilize the time travel established in the episode to go back to the time just beforehand) as it does the time travel and the characterization of the creatures.

Anyway, by the end of the episode, we see the aliens launching back to the present in order to prevent the launching of the Aldus B ray, and Trevor and Ćon are present in the hibernation pod to the one side of the ship. At the beginning of the episode, however - since it is largely assumed that this episode is a "time loop" or "Time Pretzel Paradox" (as the title of the episode music is on the Eyespy CD) - we see what we might assume is the same ship, but the hibernation pod housing Ćon and Trevor is empty. The blonde creature accompanying the primary one dies, and the main alien grieves for a moment but steps into the same pod. Throughout the episode the creature goes ONLY to Ćon and Trevor for help. In fact, s/he almost instinctively knows what to do in order to contact either of them - the creature knows where Ćon's apartment is, and knows to be captured by the Breen soldiers afterwards in order to confront Trevor. Also, the creature shows a vested interest in maintaining its bonds with both Ćon and Trevor - holding its emotional bonds with Trevor, and attempting to make Ćon understand its situation.

What I am trying to establish is that perhaps, though some means (perhaps the same means Trevor was attempting to become one of the creatures himself, or the gradual effects of the ray in ironic form) Ćon WAS the alien throughout the episode. It coincides with the creature's apparently natural affinity to Trevor and Ćon, and the fact that it knew from PERSONAL experience the events to occur and was so passionate about trying to prevent it. The blonde creature dying at the beginning of the episode, right outside the pod in the spaceship, could be Trevor himself, with Ćon grieving his death and trying to establish a relationship with the past/present/whatever Trevor in order to alleviate that grief. Also, its shock at seeing Ćon at their first meeting (wouldn't you be surprised to meet your past self?), its clinging to Ćon until she eventually rejects it entirely, its subsequent latching onto Trevor for help, its trying to get Ćon and Trevor "together" in the spaceship (it seemed to have understood human passion in that moment!), and its anger at Ćon for repeating "past mistakes" - all these seem to me to be the actions of a changed but similar Ćon.

This also relates a lot to the show's theme of constant change vs. Ćon's resistance to it - that she herself changed so much over the course of the episode and regretted her earlier mistakes, leading to her (alien form) finally succumbing to the Aldus B ray by the end, seems to indicate a whole cycle of regret and a wish to change the past... and the destruction of herself and her loved ones by attempting to do so. If this is true, the "theme" would be that regret is unavoidable but should not dominate a person's life.

Feel free to respond and to point out any of the glaring holes that most likely exist in this theory... I might try to clarify more when I'm not slightly buzzed. ;)

Answers

As Spock would say;, fascinating...as for their being able to live
hundreds of years and evolve into the life form the 'alien' inhabits
I'm guessing that would be due to the Aldus B ray that started the
loop in the first place. I'm sure they were traveling through time
because the wall of Bregna is visible in the background when Aeon
runs into the aliens city. If your theory is correct then what is
Trevor removing from the babies and what is the strange machine that
roams around destroying the floating things?

I really like your theory Brian; it gets me thinking myself. Rather
than simply disputing it I think more fun is to be had in exploring
it: How could the alien be Aeon?

Maybe the alien is Aeon, in that it is related to Aeon, eg. Upon
seeing and or sensing her it recalls that part of its bloodline and
is able to become her, so to speak. Or maybe as an evolved human its
awareness of all relatives remain ever present in its mind and Aeon
is upstanding as a presence in such a framework. Possibly, perhaps
even maybe the alien is an extremely distant grand child to Aeon &
Trevor, eg. It briefly watches Aeon & Trevor as they indulge in
intercourse (or at least foreplay) quickly embarrassed (as one would
be, especially if they were your parents in some way) it looks away
blushing & feeling awkward. Soon we see the alien take on an
interesting visage; Aeon and Trevor's face as one (maybe the aliens
as well). It's an awkward look. Could it be a look to symbolise the
Aliens sudden realisation & awkward feelings that could well come
with such occuring knowledge (the relative thing). The alien is also
very awkward about Aeon and Trevor being sexually interested in it.

(Im running away with this) How could Aeon and Trevor ever come to
having childeren? Trevor could dream up some means of causing an
artificial immaculate conception. Maybe he'd decide one day, that he
wanted a successor, even if by then hed managed to secure his own
imortality.

Brian, Id be interested in any further clarification on your idea
myself.

I like the idea of the alien being some relative of Ćon's, especially
the child of Trevor and Ćon part... the only problem I'd have with
that is that there'd be a definite connotation of incest there.
Perhaps in the new human society, incest is no longer a taboo, or
simply by definition doesn't exist(since their system of reproduction
seems *radically* different, which would also alter their sexual
mores). But if this is true, why does the creature have such sexual
(or perhaps "sexual") feelings towards Ćon and Trevor? Does it
perhaps want to crossbreed with one of them to increase the alien
creatures' resistance to Aldus B (since T & Ć seem resistant to it),
or is that simply its only real way of maintaining a bond with them
(since it doesn't seem as if Trevor and the creature could produce
children through their little eye-trading thing, being that Trevor is
an entirely different brand of human)? This, however, does also fit
into the theme of guilt and regret that I proposed before, and seems
a decent explanation as well.

I still believe that the creature itself is Ćon, obviously after a
drastic series of changes and probably many years as well (their
independence from most physical functions seems to imply an extended
life cycle). Personally, I think that the Aldus B ray transmuted
Trevor and Ćon into their new forms, being the only two "oldschool"
humans to be exposed to the world-spanning ray; the irony is that
Trevor's ray seems to have worked too well: Ćon and Trevor are
changed, but the same factor that changes them destroys the
creatures. Perhaps the ray acted uniquely on their physiology and
psychology to produce the same result of natural human evolution, or
simply worked as a catalyst to greatly accelerate the evolutionary
progress within their own bodies. Here we seem to have another theme
of self-alteration: would changing our fundamental nature lead
humanity to salvation or to ruin? This applies to not only the
physical and genetic factors, but to personal, emotional,
psychological matters as well: How much can a human being change and
alter his own persona before it becomes a detriment to his emotional
and mental health? And how much good does resisting this kind
of change do? In the episode we see Ćon struggling constantly to
maintain her own personal status quo, but Trevor embraces the change
the creatures represent entirely and wholeheartedly. In the end, the
two meet at a kind of "middle ground," where both are changed by
their reactions to the world around them but maintain at least some
semblance of their old selves. This theory relies on a definite
suspension of disbelief, but how many Ćon episodes don't? ;)

In the end, whichever theory theory one subscribes to, each supports
the ardent efforts the creature commits to maintaining strong
emotional and sexual bonds with Ćon and Trevor, its passion to make
them understand the consequences of their actions, and its apparent
knowledge of their personal and societal attributes. They also both
support the whole "one-planet" idea I proposed earlier.

Another thing I just remembered: In the ending scenes where the
creatures board their spacecraft and Trevor's little end narrative
starts, the main creature looks back before boarding the craft. The
background (if I remember correctly), although it has the
same "bathroom-tiled world" appearance from earlier in the episode,
also has a bit of the warped cityscape of Bregna behind the wall. So,
in all likelihood, the episode is still isolated to Earth, with the
creatures simply traveling through time and not space.

I really need to see this episode again, there are a lot of small
details I cant really remember. When I first saw that machine I think
I thought it was collecting things rather than destroying, or though
it could be cleaning.

I remember reading somewhere that in the
telepathy sequence, the alien was suppose to be placing the floating
matter inside of him/her instead of removing it. I think it was the
last component that made the aliens human -the area of the body that
does "lower" functions like digestion and purification. But, yeah,
I'll have to re-watch the episode again. When I saw it for the first
time, I thought it had something to do with child birth -I thought it
was something like the placenta... er something... (me = ???)

One thing that seems ignored to me.. Trevor says (IIRC) "The Meek
shall not inherit the earth." I always assumed that Aldus B
killed "Meek" as opposed to "Strong." Those willing to die for
ideals (trevor and aeon's idea of weak) and those willing to kill for
ideals (their idea of strong). But Aeon doesn't like that idea, the
idea of forcefully changing the human race, so she stops him.

The Aliens, who are almost entirely passive, are completely
vulnerable to the ray's effects, from what I assumed were test fires
of the weapon (off into space).

So I assumed that the other planet was different from earth... but
I'm beginning to rethink this. Maybe its even FARTHER in the future.

I haven't see this episode in a long time, but it was one of my
favorites. In regards to Barb, Sam, and Cyn's comments, do you think
it's possible that the machine is actually an alien? I believe at the
time we see the machine, Trevor is saying something about how future
humans' actions would be incomprehensible. And the machine does seem
to be ingesting that floating amniotic sack. And sometime prior to
this scene I remember another scene where we see one of the aliens
actually ingest one of the sacks.

Also, I think this episode really critiques the notion of social
control, and of course Trevor himself since he is the master of social
control. This episode shows how the notion of strength is completely
arbitrary and how the attempt to strengthen society in a Sir Francis
Galton kind of way, or a Nazi sort of way, has actually ended up in
desroying the population. The "aliens" are as close to physically
perfect as you can get, yet they are all wiped out by a random
cataclysmic event of Trevor's making. (Kurt Vonnegut points out the
arbitrary nature of evolutionary "strength" in his book "Galapagos,"
although I have never read the book).

Another thing interesting about Aldus B (where does that name come
from by the way? Maybe Aldous Huxley?) is that we have no idea what it
is supposed to do. All we know is that it kills a lot of people and
leaves others alive in a seamingly arbitrary manner. We assume that
Trevor knows what the criteria for survivial is (most likely based on
himself), but we don't know for sure.

Of course social control is one of the primary issues of End
Sinister; the conflict of Trevor's attempt to meticulously
control and order the world of Bregna versus the fundamental elements
of chaos, sabotage and free will, is one of the primary ongoing
elements of Ćon Flux as a whole. But this particular episode
does lend itself to an atmosphere of social Darwinism and an attempt
to change humankind for the better that may not work out for
mankind's benefit (i.e. debates about eugenics, genetic engineering,
etc).

It's also interesting, Logo, that you mentioned Vonnegut in your
post; I've always thought that the worlds of Ćon Flux were
similar to those of Vonnegut (and Philip K. Dick, but in a different
manner) in that they place the ordinary human being within an bizarre
and absurd world, and observe how human beings still function the way
they always have.

As for the idea of the "tower" being a form of human being,
it's perfectly possible; considering the physiology of the creatures,
it wouldn't be entirely implausible. But to clarify to the person who
said that that could have been even further in the future, that's
what I proposed in my original post. If this kind of oddity can be
expressed in a timeline, here it is:
/c-->------------------------\ /-------- [B] 2---------> [C]

Where:

[A] is the "present" of Ćon Flux;
[B] is the "turning point" of the creatures' history, when Ćon fires
the Aldus B ray;
[C] is the "present" of the creature from the episode, where the ray
has already been fired and the creatures are surviving in whatever
way they can.

Transition 1 is the time from the present to the time that
the "alien" civilization is established; estimated to be 1000 years.

Transition 2 is the time that it takes for the creatures to "adapt"
their lifestyles to the Aldus B ray; it could be anywhere from a few
weeks to several centuries.

Jump a is the leap the creatures originally make from their present
to prevent the firing of the Aldus B ray;
Jump b is the leap Ćon makes to the time of the creatures;
Jump c is the leap Trevor and the creature make to their future;
Jump d is the leap Trevor makes from their future to the firing of
the Aldus B ray.

Curses, the ASCII screwed up on me. >:( Let's see if I can get this
to work right:
/c-->------------------------
/b--->---------\ /----------
[A] 1--------> [B] 2---------> [C]
(If it doesn't work right this time I give up :P)

I re-watched the episode. This is
one “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” type episode. Here are my
thoughts, if anyone cares:

This episode begins to crumble at the most fundamental level –the
alien being. Yes, when I watched it for the first time my belief was
suspended, but now I watch it in a more critical, cynical view. My
quib is that there is no biological organism that can exist without a
methodology for extracting sustenance from a selected environment.
The idea that this creature is based solely on mental processes
(this “mind-over-matter” business) is not plausible. Given that the
being’s intelligence would allow it to invent certain gadgets to hunt
and gather food, the truth is that there is no “survival” game here –
the only thing that seems to be limiting these beings is their
weakness when exposed to the ray. We see that the beings can have
offspring, yet we cannot know the process. They can simulate the
sexual act through swapping eyes, but clearly we see no “biological
equipment” to handle child-bearing, let alone identify male and
female. From all this, I can only conclude that the beings are most
likely genetically-engineered. For the benefit of the species, they
must rely on a machine of some sort to splice genetic material and
grow infants. Is this what we saw on the alien planet? Are those
floating masses discarded packets of genetic material? Again, it’s
hard to say.

A point I’d like to bring to the table is that of collective-
species design predisposition (and I just made up that term, so don’t
dog me). Aeon and Trevor’s world is a period of time different from
our own. Notice that the rocket-spaceship Trevor used is a variation
of what we use, us, today, NASA. The design is very human-
looking, its design specification is big, bulky, gets the job done,
etc. The alien by contrast is curvy, sleek and fluid. The alien
planet is very miniaturized and plain. By plain, I mean empty, non-
existent; not enough of the architecture was shown to make a
critique. But they are a “mental” species, so I suspect they just sit
around and meditate anyway. To say that alien species is the future
human species is a stretch because, yes it would be incomprehensible
from a yada yada, but evolution in one world, one ecosystem, does not
guarantee survival in another, or the same (see below for a biology
recap). If those really are humans, why are they still not
immune to the ray? Why don’t they have hard shells by now or
more biological technology instead of less? I doubt
having a pelvis is a biological weakness. And if such things are not
weaknesses, why lose them? There is a sense of design in each
species, I believe, a kind of individuality despite compounded
evolution and social change. My point? If that alien really is
Aeon what made her change her hair-style??? :)

-Biology Recap-

We have your general evolution model (gradual) and then the
punctuated equilibrium model (fast). I’m not sure which one the
writers were going for, but we can examine them both. According to
the punctuated equilibrium model of evolution (the creator of the
theory died just a few weeks ago), a species remains more or less the
same throughout time, with rapid changes occurring only occasionally.
But if you're letting the organisms be genetically modified, through
engineered gamma rays or whatever, the change could take place in a
single generation. If there is nobody engineering this, then you have
an entirely different game. If you want these features to evolve
spontaneously, then there's a couple ways it happens. First, if
having a smaller, but not absent pelvis, vocal chords, reproductive
system –whatever- was advantageous, then the structures could be
reduced over time until they eventually disappeared entirely. The
speed with which they did so would depend upon the strength of the
selection, that is to say that if the selecting agent was 100% more
likely to kill a person with a large pelvis, deduction would occur
much faster than if the selecting agent was only 5% more likely. And
even if it's 1000% more likely, significant evolution still might not
occur if even the large-pelvised individuals were only killed once
every now and then.

Recap of gradualism solution: this only works if intermediate
stages present an advantage, and if there is a strong selective
force.

On to option two, the punctuated equilibrium method: if gradualism
won't work for one reason or another, whether because the agents of
selection are weak or because the intermediate stages present no
advantage, there's still a chance of a mutation successfully creating
any of the desired characteristics whole. In this case, a virus,
radioactivity, or other random occurrences edit the DNA of an
individual in such a way that an advantageous trait appears whole.
The likelihood of this is determined by several factors: exposure to
radiation, frequency of viri, but most importantly, population size.
In an infinitely large population, all mutations will occur within
one generation. On the other hand, in a population of limited size it
takes time. Think of each individual as a very large die. Every
generation, those dice are rolled, in the hopes of getting a certain
number. The more dice you get to roll, the more likely it is that
you'll get your desired number.

The fact of the matter here though, is that you're looking at a
statistical equation: likelihood of trait evolving = chance of
correct mutation x number of breeding individuals x number of
generations. Two of those numbers I don't know, and one of them I
can't know.

So let me recap this whole post: it's impossible to prove one way
or the other based on the information given. You can argue either
side, but without the numbers, it's meaningless. I stick to the above-
stated –that the aliens are a genetically engineered species.

I’ll get to the social control thing and the timeline deal on my
next post...

Your a christian arnt you Cyn? Do you believe that the intelligence
we posses as human beings was endulged upon us by god? Do you belive
in the preachings of the bible? Do you find you have to suspend
disbelief for your beliefs?

I wonder how an evolved human mind would regard fundemental issues
anyway, whos to say?

We know so little about the aliens that any statement about how their
existence is impossible is completely unsupportable. Maybe an
organism cannot exist without some way of absorbing nutrients, but we
don't know for sure. In the vastness of the universe maybe there are
creatures like that. It would be naive to think that life on our
planet is representative of all life.

And I don't know how you can say there is no "survival game." We
don't know enough about the aliens to make any such claim. For all
you know, maybe they actively slaughter each other bases on height.
There are millions of possible ways this "game" can play itself out
and I doubt you have exhausted all of them.

It's also interesting how much we assume about the alien. The eye
swapping is assumed to be a sexual act, it's not necessarily so.
Maybe it is a social act like shaking hands or exchanging business
cards. Or maybe it is sexual, but has no reproductive purpose. My
point is that a "perfect" alien shows up literally at Trevor's
doorstep during his most daring project of "perfecting" the human
species, and so of course he is going to project all of his wishfull
thinking onto the alien. As viewers we kind of have to distinguish
between what is real and what is Trevor's delusion. (I've always
wondered where that baby came from that he was holding).

Your final statement about how the aliens should be immune to the
ray, and how they should have a whole lot of biological technology
and whatnot is interesting on a lot of levels; all of which have to
do with the assumption of progress.
Evolution is a process of change in response to the environment. An
organism only becomes more robust when comparing it to its
environment. Who knows what has happened in the aeons that Trevor was
in chryosleep. And given the fact that Trevor himself planned to
change the species within his own lifetime, it's not at all hard to
believe that the aliens could change again to be greatly effected by
the ray rather than immune to it.
As for your comment on why they should have more technology, I don't
see why. Again, you are progecting your own social and cultural mores
onto someone else. Technological progress is not a universal goal. It
is not a natural consequence of life. Maybe they have found most
technology to be a nuisance since they live in the mind.
It's also equally possible that they have reached the limits of
technology. In our world devices keep getting smaller and more
inconspicuous. Multiple devices are then packed into one device. In
reality, technological progress has more to do with a diminishing
than an expansion of visible technology. In the end who is to say
there will not just be one black box capable of almost everything?
Perhaps even capable of autonomous life itself? At that point how
could you really distinguish technology from its environment. Maybe
the whole environment is technology. Try to step out of your 21st
century mindset and think to the ultimate limits of possibility, and
then cross that line into the ludicrous. You'll probably end up
pretty close to what is actually possible.

I simply havent managed to watch this ep again. Can someone clarify
or give an opinion on what makes the strong immune to Aldus B & the
weak susceptible. The alien is affected by the ray yet it proves to
be physically superior to Aeon when it overcomes Aeons attack and
knocks her out. Also it seems to be more understanding than Trevor,
When Trevor claims to "understand" the alien gives him an angry look
and Trevor confesses otherwise.

For Logo -first of all, I said it was implausible -
not "impossible." Second, it was in regards to Brian Davis' time
pretzel theory. Third, your counter-example never happened; the
aliens didn't systematically kill of their own kind. If you're gonna
play the "anything is possible" card -so can I, and it can only
strengthen the ideas I proposed. My theory was that the race was
genetically engineered (re-read my post).

For Sam- I
believe in God being external, heaven existing. As for the state of
human beings, we are waging a long war against ideas and ideals. It
is not difficult for me to accept proposed sciences, I just need
empirical evidence to back it up. For issues of science I EXPECT
qualitative/quantitative analysis. For issues of spirituality, I only
require that the idea is worth believing in.

In this case, I'm
rather split. When I first saw this episode I thought it was really
clever, but now I watch it and at the end I think to myself: "so
what?" (Anyone -please comment; what was the ending like for you?)

I just watched the Mission: Infinite tape again. Its definitely a
ray that affects only the "meek." Trevor never defines the
difference between strong and meek, save that he and Aeon are
definitely not meek.

I just watched the Mission: Infinite tape again. Its definitely a
ray that affects only the "meek." Trevor never defines the
difference between strong and meek, save that he and Aeon are
definitely not meek.

Also, he implies that evolution is an utterly arbitrary process.
Merely creating the challenge to be overcome, and causing "winners"
and "losers" to exist is evolution. This is his definition
of "evolution revolution," causing an arbitrary but instant change.
Later on, I think Trevor sees the beauty of chosen evolution. The
evolution that the aliens, and later humans who become like the
aliens do. This would support the genetic engineering theory- but I
think that genetic engineering can't be seen as any more natural or
unnatural than "normal" evolution.

The aliens are human. Trevor states so, and seeing an alien with a
pelvis convinces Aeon. Trevor travels somewhere his ship will take 500
hundred years to reach, and Aeon assumes he will return, so she sets
her cryogenic pod for other 500 hundred years. Now, the "bathroom
tiled" planet Trevor reaches with the alien, and where they get the
alien ship, is it Earth too or another planet? I don't know, and I saw
the video more then a year ago last time.

Time pretzels constructs always lead to some kind of paradox. After
the first loop, wouldn't the Alien know that going to the past would
not prevent the firing of the ray in the future? Why would the alien
return 1000 years in the past, when the ray had just been fired?

When I saw it the first time I thought that the essential idea was to
portray something not understandable. But as I have seen references of
Peter Chung taking great pains to explain episodes, maybe it has some
meaning.

The pseudoxenos("fake stranger")are the result of human evolution,
after 1000 years of living under Aldous B.Whoever said that the
amoebas are digestive and reproductive tract is right.The species has
split into two distinct organisms,and the pseudoxenos prey on the
amoebas,so the amoebas really just do their eating for them(the
reverse has happened before.Mitochrondria,ribosomes,and all those
other organelles were originally separate organisms).The only way
they take from the environment is through respiration,which they
probably do through the skin.They are ageless,so it is quite possible
that is Aeon and Trevor in the very beginning.However,I think the ray
is more of a continuous effect.They need the amoebas to reproduce,but
the amoeba can reproduce without them,so they become more parasites
than predators.It also causes an imbalance in population which
eventually leads evolution to favor the amoebas.Notice how the sores
on the skin are shaped like smaller versions of the amoebas.They
probably developed the disease as a natural defense against the
parasitic pseudoxenos,since they have to ingest them(somehow) to
survive.So they travel back to prevent the firing of the ray.

The eyeball trade is most likely a way to trade genes,which
would be an everyday necessity under the effects of Aldous B.The
pseudoxeno's mental powers aren't just visually telepathic;it's an
empath as well,probably able to receive and transmit a whole range of
sensory input,and it knows what Aeon and Trevor are feeling when they
screw.(like the joke about a hermaphrodite fucking itself;is it
incest or masturbation?)That would explain why its brain is so fried
when it comes to Aeon's apartment.If it is Aeon,she just experienced
herself fucking Trevor fucking her,along with the possibility she
might remember that fuck from when she was human.That's three
experiences of the same event,and she can no longer enjoy it
firsthand.Paradise Lost.No wonder she runs off to hump on Trevor
(again,somehow.maybe Trevor's into skullduggery).

The pseudoxeno takes Trevor to another planet,a
colony,purely to get another time machine,and discovers it to be
overrrun with amoebas too(Trevor now has a time travel device,WHOA)He
might understand their relationship to humans,and he understands
she's the last one.But he definitly doesn't get that it's Aeon.

Aeon gets out of the capsule to see Breens evolved through
Trevor's meddling with time.It seems odd that Trevor goes through
such pains for a race which in the end was killed off by Aldous
B.When Aeon finds Trevor,he is tending to a hybrid,possibly his
own.Trevor is pulling out the amoebiac organs,and the baby regrows
them,strong enough to regenerate lost organs,but not strong enough to
live without them.But Trevor is determined,affecting change by his
own hand,and in his single-mindedness polluting the environment with
that which will kill his chosen people.For the baby is like an
infected cell which is told to produce more viruses.Aeon fires the
ray,and too late does she see the pelvic remnant:the change must have
happened not long ago.Aeon hates Trevor,not because he's right,but
because he chose the weird,the exotic over her,signifying that she's
not different enough for him.The human instinct to fuck the strange
to take their genes is strong in Trevor;since he tried it with the
Seraph Trev,which bore more than a passing resemblance to
these "aliens",like a lack of pelvis.